Crotto Ombra: A Chiavenna Cave Restaurant

By Diana RusslerITWPA MemberHidden in the middle of the Italian Alps not far from the Swiss border is the lush Valchiavenna valley where a tradition of hearty food is the perfect antidote to a long day of outside activity.Chiavenna, the main town on an ancient north-south trade route, is riddled with numerous natural caves and […]

France’s Circulade Villages

By Bruce RobbinsFor a thousand years, the unique circular pattern of a series of hillside-hugging French villages remained, to all but their inhabitants, undiscovered.Then, in 1992, Polish architect Krzysztof Pawlowski took to the air and laid bare, from his bird’s-eye perspective, the concentric layout of Europe’s first stab at town planning.Pawlowski called the 50-plus medieval […]